Showing posts with label chromosomes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label chromosomes. Show all posts

Friday, October 11, 2013

Junk DNA - Dr. Charles Jackson

Part I


(Part II is below)


Rocky Mountain Creation Fellowship's speaker on March 8, 2013 was Dr. Charles Jackson, founder of Points of Origins Ministries, the college ministry division of Creation Truth Foundation of Dallas, Texas. “Dr. J” is an educator, a Mensan, debater in creation science, and dynamic speaker. His presentation gave a historical retrospect covering decades of genomic research that has completely reversed evolutionists’ theory, that the non-protein coding sequences of human DNA are the  discarded residue of evolution (so-called “Junk DNA”).


Charles gave an inspiring testimony about how he was instantly delivered from the religion of scientism and bondage of evolution when he was saved as a highschooler. He instantly knew that the Bible was true, all of it. “I found and met the Creator, who got me and transf ormed me.” As a young college professor, Dr. J. had to walk a tight rope because of his objections to evolution theory, and was eventually fired because he didn’t agree that DNA had “junk”. This idea about “junk DNA” comes from a long history of misdire cted thinking, a history of wildly rampant egos and arrogance that goes back to the 1920’s, when evolutionists falsely claimed that so - called vestigial organs (appendix, tonsils, tailbone) were proof of evolution. Having unknown functions, these organs we re said to be useless “leftovers” from the days when we were fish and rats and worms, and had all these different organs that natural selection hasn't weeded out of us yet. This myth reflected an attitude : “Since we're so smart, and we can't figure out wha t it does, it must not have any function or be doing anything.” It was arguing from ignorance, providing an ignorant hypothesis to an Unanswered Question.

Evolution thrives in the gray areas and the uncertainties; it is cast into the darkness, and then s aid to answer the questions. The amazing part is that after the truth is found, which rejects the hypothesis, they continue in their erroneous thinking. Vestigial organs are still in the textbooks, even though now they are scientifically indefensible. The same faulty logic used for vestigial organs came into play in the 1970’s to explain why only 2% of the human genome had a known function. Eureka! Evidence for evolution: vestigial DNA, or ‘Junk’, left over from a trial and error genetic system.


The true genetic story began to unfold in the year 2000, when we first got a hint that the junk DNA had a purpose, regarding the function of the double X chromosomes in females. It was discovered that there was a DNA sequence that was controlli ng the entire operation, telling which genes to shut down, which to power up and which genes to pump out extra proteins. And it was all being coordinated by DNA sequences that weren't making proteins; they were in the junk region. It turns out that the jun k genes were not making proteins, but telling all the other genes when to do it. They were the main circuit board for the entire operation. By the year 2006, it was public knowledge that junk DNA was probably not junk. Quote Time , 10/9/06: “The non-coding region of the genome, . . is crucial."


It's a fantastically complex, crisscrossing network of gene communications that we have only scratched the surface on. Many genes overlap one another and share stretches of molecular code. A gene that controls the production of a protein - coded gene was often found on different chromosomes.

Then it was announced in 2007 that the entire genome (including Junk regions) gets transcribed, and that both DNA strands are translated. “There is an interleaved structure of overlapping segments with typically 5, 7, or 9 or more transcripts coming from one gene.” The information coding system is so complex, it means the file management system is way beyond anything we understand. The last nail in Darwin’s coffin came in the Sept. 6, 2012 issue of the NY Times (reported in this newsletter, Vol. 77) as follows: “At least 4 million gene switches turn out to play critical roles in controlling how cells, organs and other tissues behave.”


There are master control genes that don't produce any proteins, but stimulate other genes that produce proteins. Dr. John Sanford, the brilliant geneticist and a born - again creationist, says that codes are overlaying within codes and nested within other codes, and are read in both directions. What an awesome Creator!


Thanks to Dr. J. for his expertise and faithfulness.


Part II



Dr. Charles Jackson 
Talk:
Junk DNA
Date:
March 8th, 2013 7:00pm
RMCF's for March 8, 2013 will be Dr. Charles Jackson of the Creation Truth Foundation
Dr. Jof Dallas Texas. Dr. Jackson has four degrees in science and education
from U. of Virginia and George Mason University. From 1980 to 2002, he
taught secondary school sciences, college biology and chemistry, and
teacher education classes. In 2003, Dr. Jackson founded Points of
Origins Ministries and began teaching, speaking, and debating in
creation science education. His emphasis has been in making the case
for the literal interpretation of the Scriptural accounts as being both
scientifically and historically true.


As a former youth pastor and schoolteacher, the work of “Dr. J” has been primarily focused toward Christian youth. Dr. J and his wife, Bonnie, are missionaries to American College Students, and have served Creation Truth Foundation in that capacity since January 2009. They are keenly interested in the liberation of Bible-believing college
students, from the delusion that their faith has been refuted by modern scientific understandings. Dr. J has crusaded against evolutionary dogma on college campuses across the mainland United States, and also in Venezuela and Peru, in lecture settings and academic debates.

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The secret to the success of Dr. J’s ministry has not merely been the God-given gifts of academic and communication skills, but an ultimate dependence upon the Spirit of God, while debating the issues in
the public forum. [ “If any of you lack wisdom, let him ask of God.”James 1:5 ]

Dr. Jackson will speak on the topic of so-called “Junk DNA”, which is definitely not junk.  Join us for this edifying evening.

Friday, October 4, 2013

Evolutionists Call New Plant Epigenetic Study 'Heresy' - Jeffrey Tomkins, PhD



Evolutionists Call New Plant Epigenetic Study 'Heresy'

New research has uncovered a hidden layer of trait-determining epigenetic information that resides outside the DNA sequence in plants. This new discovery challenges the evolutionary paradigms of the scientific community and their long-standing views on how organisms adapt to changing environments at the molecular biological level of the cell. In fact, some are even calling this recent research "evolution heresy."1

For over the past 50 years, Darwinian evolutionists have attributed changes in an organism's traits to the specific DNA sequences that code for them. They never anticipated a hidden layer of epigenetic information overlaying the DNA code to be directly involved in how a plant interfaces with its environment.

Both plants and animals have genetic machinery that modifies the information and function of their genomes without actually changing their genetic code. This modification process is known as "epigenetics." One of the best studied of these epigenetic processes involves the chemical tagging of DNA nucleotides across the genome using methyl groups. These "methyl tags" are attached to cytosine nucleotides in specific patterns around genes and other expressed sequences by a specialized group of proteins called methyltransferases.

This methyl-tagging system (methylation) plays a key role in determining how and when genes are turned off and on along chromosomes. The specific placement and maintenance of these methyl tags is both dynamic and precise. When a cell divides and its DNA is replicated, the duplication of its methyl-tag patterns is also copied, and this complex systems engineering is only now beginning to be understood.

A recent study of the Arabidopsis plant adds to the emerging importance of epigenetics in adaptation.1 In this project, researchers tested 80 different Arabidopsis strains that were nearly identical genetically, except for some that lacked a gene controlling proper DNA methylation patterns. Thus, the test focused on a large population of genetically similar plants that had both normal and aberrant levels of methylation in their genomes. The researchers tested the plants over several generations for flowering time and root growth.

The goal of the study was to determine if variability in these traits was passed along from generation to generation by genetic or epigenetic differences. They found that the DNA sequence in the regions of the Arabidopsis genome that control both flowering time and root length was identical for all 80 plants and did not contribute the observed variability. What they discovered was that the inherited variability for these traits was associated with methylation changes!

This whole scenario presents a variety of substantial problems for evolution...CONTINUE READING